Bookshelf

VIDEOS

Honey hunters of the blue mountains

Keystone Foundation and Riverbank Studios

2000 Playing time 30 minutes VHS format Available from Bees for Development Price £28.90 Order code VID20

This professionally made film premiered at the Apimondia Congress in Vancouver, is a detailed documentary about the last honey hunters in the Nilgiris Mountains of South India and their relationship with the giant honeybee Apis dorsata. lt contains fantastic shots of Apis dorsata and the honey hunters at work. This film will interest not only bee lovers but also scientists and development planners wanting to address the issues of indigenous people in changing environments. Part of the proceeds from sales contributes to “The Honey Hunters’ Development Fund” set up by The Keystone Foundation (a Bees for Development partner organisation).

Also by Keystone: An 85-page spiral bound book Honey hunters and beekeepers of Tamil Nadu Price £24.40 Order code K300

Empowering the rural disabled

Playing time 16 minutes Available from Lawrence Jacobsen, FAO Focal Point for Disability Matters, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy

The majority of the world’s disabled people live in rural, agricultural areas. This video neatly demonstrates the importance of remembering that disabled farmers must be included in development projects. Examples of FAO work in Vietnam (mushroom cultivation) and Cambodia (a community integrated pest management project) show, by interviews with the farmers and the project organisers, how successful such projects can be.

Defence strategies of giant honeybees

Gerald Kastberger

2000 Playing time 23 minutes PAL/VHS or NTSC format in English or German editions Available from Bees for Development Price £32.50 Order code VID19

Another excellent video from the Austrian Researcher Dr Gerald Kastberger. This film shows research concerning the behaviour of the giant honeybee Apis dorsata. The filming takes place in Assam, at the edge of the Himalayas. The giant behaviour that is very different from that of hive-nesting bees. Major enemies of the bees are predatory wasps: as they come close a ‘Mexican wave’ of bees moves across the comb. Maybe this stops the wasp from being able to focus on its prey? There is excellent filming of the abdominal movements of bees as they emit pheromone: giving the message ‘let's do it together’. Also of bees ‘balling’ an unfortunate wasp: killing it by cooking to 48°C (the honeybees are still OK at this temperature). This video will fascinate beekeepers, teachers, students and indeed anyone concerned with aggression and defence behaviour.

Still available: Gerald Kastberger’s first video about Apis dorsata, narrated by Sir David Attenborough The magic trees of Assam 51 minutes Price £45 Order code VID17

CD ROM

Medicine from the bees

Theodore Cherbuliez, Roch Domerego and many contributors

2001 CD Rom for PC and Mac with text in English, French and Spanish Available from Bees for Development Price £34.90 Order code VID18

This new CD brings a vast amount of information about apitherapy. It has been produced under the auspices of the Apimondia Standing Commission for Apitherapy and draws upon the skills of many experts.

The CD includes information about bees, an introduction to apitherapy and its history, and examples of apitherapy in Cuba. The major part of the CD is arranged in three major sections: the first presenting the bee products used in apitherapy and their various therapeutic properties, the second addresses the major diseases and the measures proposed by apitherapy, the third sections more technical, giving information on active components of bee products and pharmaceutical and medical protocols. The CD contains 350 text chapters, two short videos (an introduction by Dr Cherbuliez, and of a bee stinging), 19 Power Point presentations, over 400 excellent quality pictures, a glossary, bibliography, and much more besides.

An abundance of information material presented in an attractive and novel format.

Medical Aspects of Beekeeping

Harry H Riches

2001 86 pages Available from Bees for Development Price £11.30 Order code R210

Harry Riches is now retired from his long and distinguished medical career. However he has not retired from his life-long career of beekeeping and is a well-known lecturer, and judge of honey and mead. During his medical career Harry Riches frequently wrote articles on medical problems associated with bee stings and has at last found the time to consolidate these into this new book. The topics covered are stings, hypersensitivity to bee venom, allergy problems, honey, apitherapy and how to avoid trouble. Strictly evidence-based rather than anecdote-based, this new book fills a waiting niche.

The book provides in readable format the scientific background that beekeepers need to be properly informed in this vital area.

Also by Harry Riches: Mead: Making, Exhibiting and Judging Price £11 Order code R205

In Pursuit of Liquid Gold

R B Ogden

2000 104 pages Available from Bees for Development Price £15 Order code 0105

This book records what remains of the heritage of beekeeping in south-west England: how beekeeping arrived here, the influence of the monasteries, how from the 11th century bee boles were built to protect straw hives from wind, rain and snow. This small and modest book is full of amazing facts, for example it has been discovered that beeswax was used to seal stitching holes in a boat discovered from the early Bronze Age, 3000 years ago. The chapter on traditions and folklore gives fascinating glimpses of the role of bees in English life, even in the 2th century;

“All communication with the bees must be done in a gentle and kindly manner as befits their sacred status”. Full of interesting pictures and illustrations, one shows a Victorian widow addressing a hive of bees after their master’s death, the hive with a black bow as a sign of mourning for the beekeeper who has died.

An excellent text that will appeal to beekeepers with a taste for history and folklore.

Mites of the Honeybee

Thomas C Webster and Keith S Delaplane (editors)

2001 280 pages Hardback Available from Bees for Development Price £19.20 Order code W350

A comprehensive review of all the mites known to be parasitic on honeybees. Following the introduction, Part Il focuses on tracheal mites and other Acarapis, Part Ill focuses on Varroa mites, and Part IV looks at other parasitic brood mites. Information on biology, life history, introduction and spread, and control methods is given, and in an accessible way. This book is not intended just for scientists: it will be of value and help to beekeepers and apiary inspectors. The editors must be kicking themselves that this book was published just before the revelation that what we all confidently but often wrongly referred to as Varroa jacobsoni is in fact more than one species.

The Red Mason Bee: Taking the Sting out of Beekeeping

Chris O'Toole

2001 38 pages Available from Bees for Development Price £5.70 Order code 0155

The red mason bee, Osmia rufa is found in Europe and the Mediterranean region. This book explains the life cycle of the bee and how it can be encouraged to nest in gardens, as a ‘pollination pet’: for Osmia rufa is an excellent pollinator of fruit crops. The intensive agriculture widely practiced throughout Europe has led to loss of habitat for bees and in the UK alone 25 species of wild bees are now considered endangered. This attractive book will help to raise awareness of these little known or appreciated bees.

Also by Chris O'Toole (and Anthony Raw): Bees of the World Price £16.60 Order code 0150

Insect Pollination in Glasshouses

Marinus J Sommeijer and Aad de Ruijter

2000 220 pages Available from Bees for Development Price £30.70 Order code $710

This is a compilation of 27 papers presented during a meeting held in The Netherlands concerning the use of bumblebees as pollinators of crops in greenhouses. The potential of other pollinator insects for confined pollination was also considered. Papers are grouped according to six topics: Rearing bumblebees for greenhouse pollination; The diversity of suitable bumblebees; The use of other insects for greenhouse pollination; Greenhouse conditions; Insect pollination for the commercial production of some greenhouse crops; and Insect pollination in relation to plant breeding.

Experiences from a wide range of countries are presented and 32 colour pictures complete this information-packed and useful text.

Also by Marinus Sommeijer et al: Perspectives for Honey Production in the Tropics Price £22 Order code S700